


On An Island

by SuperRedRobin (SweetFanfics)



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU, DCU - Comicverse
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-01-08
Updated: 2012-07-12
Packaged: 2017-10-29 05:02:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/316105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetFanfics/pseuds/SuperRedRobin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They're stranded on an island with help a long ways coming. In the course of waiting to be rescued, Tim and Kon slowly come to a realization that was not expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day 01

—

 

“I know a song that never ends, I know a song that never ends, I know a song that never ends and it goes something like this~”

 

The twitch in his left eyebrow was getting worse with every off-key rendition of the stupid song. Tim took part of his irritation out on the large palm frond, slapping it down on the roof of their make-shift shelter and tying it down extra hard with his spare grappling rope.

 

“Kon.” His voice was cold and steady as he eyed the floating meta tearing off more palm leaves. “If you don’t stop singing that song, I’m going to tie you up and throw you into the water.”

 

“What are you? Simon Cowell? Sheesh.” The meta replied as he dropped a large pile of leaves a few feet away from the teen, right on top of his cape and cowl. He noticed Tim’s glare and held up his hands, “Fine fine. I’ll sing something else.”

 

“Thank you!” Tim couldn’t help but sigh in relief as the meta came to hover over him. “So, do you like, need more palm leaves or are those enough?” Tim wiped off the sweat from his brow, pushing damp strands of hair out of his eyes as he turned to eye the large green fronds. “Another fifteen or so should be enough. Just make sure to get the really big ones.”

 

“Gotcha.” Tim went back to finishing the roof of what would be their temporary shelter on this tropical island as they waited for their friends to rescue them. By Tim’s estimations, the team would realize their absence within 5 days and it would take them, probably day or three to track them down. Even the best estimate put them on this tiny island for at least a week.

 

Tim reached out for another frond, adjusting it into place as he wondered if he could get this done quickly enough that they could do a round of the island. It was important to determine a food and water source. And there was also the problem of-

 

“99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer~”

 

Tim craned his head around to stare in disbelief. Kon ignored the glare being directed at him as he continued singing as he tore off one leaf after another. The ‘I’m so irritated I could kill you with my bare hands and make it look like an accident’ tick in his left eyebrow returned with a vengeance. His fingers twitched against the long green leaves, aching to pull a batarang out and toss it at Kon’s extremely thick head as he reached the count of 95.

 

With an exasperated sweep of the hand, Tim pushed his hair out of his eyes and glared at the half done thatch in front of him. He closed his eyes and took a long, slow breath. _‘Just stay calm…it won’t do either of you any good if you get angry at him_.’ Tim exhaled slowly, trying to block the sound of Kon singing his way down to 92 bottles of beer. _‘Besides, you need him. His powers and strength could be a-‘_

 _  
_

His eyes jerked open as Kon began to sing in the worst falsetto he had ever had the misfortune of hearing. Without a second thought, he pulled a batarang out and whipped it at Kon’s head. Tim didn’t know how and at present, couldn’t care less, but he was _extremely_ pleased when the flying projectile clipped the meta neatly in the head and made him yelp in surprise (and perhaps pain). The lot of greenery which Kon had been holding up using his TTK fell to the ground with a soft sound.

 

“Dude! What the _hell?!_ ” Kon turned around, a hand rubbing the back of his head as he eyeballed an irate Tim. For his part, Tim glared back just as hard and ground out, “Please do a recon of the island. See if there’s any fruits that we can eat. And a water source.”

 

He quickly held a hand up before Kon could state the obvious, “And don’t say that we can drink the sea water. It tastes bad, has high levels of salt and we’ll wind up dehydrated and then dead.”

 

Kon eyed the large body of water before looking at the pile of fallen leaves and then at Tim. “If you say so.” And without another word, he flew away to check the rest of the island out.

 

Tim sighed in relief, pressing two fingertips up to his forehead to will the building headache down. With Kon and his acoustic non-talents out of the way, Tim estimated that he would be done with the roof within an hour or two. But before he went back to working…

 

With a few quick movements, Tim turned the safety features from his suit off and unzipped his tunic. ‘ _No sense in wearing Kevlar in this tropical heat_.’, he thought to himself as he pulled his soaked undershirt off as well. The teen sighed in relief as a soft cool breeze blew over his chest.

 

‘ _That feels so much better_.’, he thought to himself as he neatly put the material away to the side.

 

—

 

A few hours later, the sun had began to set against the water and Kon was returning back to the camp site. His shirt pulled from the hem to create a make-shift basket laden with several kinds of fruit that he had managed to find. Regardless of the fact that the worm hole they had accidentally been sucked into and spit out off onto a lone island surrounded by miles upon miles of nothing but fucking water (which made it clear that they were not on Earth anymore), the fruits seemed to resemble Earth fruits.

 

Kon had managed to find trees heavily laden with coconuts, papaya (and strangely enough), watermelons. Kon had to stop and rub his eyes to make sure that he hadn’t been seeing things. And there were also the bushes of berries and nuts. ‘ _Just when you think you’ve seen everything_.’ Kon shook his head in amusement as he recalled the watermelons.

 

He grinned as he passed through the last line of trees, coming to hover a few feet over from their new ‘home’ and - ‘ _Whoa._ ’ Kon couldn’t stop himself from staring at Tim’s naked torso. _‘There’s a sight you don’t see every day._ ’ He landed gently on the white sand, opting to walk the final steps up to Tim as the older boy was eying their little make-shift hut.

 

Kon cleared his throat, wondering why his throat has suddenly gone so dry. “Hey.”

 

Tim kept his arms folded across the chest. _‘Okay. Wow.’_ HOW was it that Kon had never appreciated the way Tim’s arms looked when they were folded like that? _‘Probably cause they were hidden underneath that stupid cape of his_.’ “So, what did you find?”

 

Kon was shaken out of his thoughts at the question and jerked his head down at the small pile of fruit he was carrying. “There’s loads of trees with all kinds of fruits.” He nodded in the direction he had come back from. “It’s bout 15 minutes that’a way. And dude get this. There’s this tree and it had _watermelons_ growing on it.”

 

Tim face twisted in confusion, “Watermelons? But they grow on vines, not on trees.”

 

Kon grinned in amusement, “Yeah well, tell that to the tree. Cause look,” he picked the dark green fruit out from the small pile. It was smaller than regular watermelons but it was still undeniably a watermelon. Tim took hold of the fruit, turning it around in his hands as he examined it.

 

“I also got some papaya and coconuts and this little green thingie whose name I couldn’t remember. Kiwi or avocado, I couldn’t remember which it was. I woulda gotten some berries but I thought this’d be enough.” He gave Tim a quizzical look, “This _is_ enough right?”

 

Tim glanced over from the fruit in his hands, “It should last us at least a day or two.” And without another word, headed over to the hut. And once again, Kon found himself caught by surprise.

 

It wasn’t that he hadn’t ever seen Tim naked before. Communal showers and everything. But it was jarring to see Tim walking around baring so much skin. It was way too unfamiliar a sight. Not to mention being able to see all those scars. Kon’s eyes traced the faded lines and puckers as he followed the teen without thinking. Kon started to count the lines but grew unnerved as he passed twenty and instead focused on Tim as he knelt down beside his utility belt.

 

Tim quickly spread his cape out and gestured for Kon to drop the fruits into the cape, “Drop them in here. We’ll wrap them up and tie them up in-” He paused and looked up at the meta as he carefully deposited his findings into the dark material, “You didn’t happen to come across any wild animals did you?”

 

Kon blinked at the question, racking his mind as he thought on it. “Well…I _think_ I heard some birds near this lake. Oh!” Kon smacked the palm of his hand against his forehead, “Totally forgot to mention that. There’s this big clear lake just five minutes away from all the fruit trees. And there’s this little place around that curve where I think we can try fishing or something.” He eyed the rapidly darkening waters, “I dunno what kinda fish there’ll be here but its worth a shot.”

 

Tim nodded to himself, storing the information away as he pulled another batarang out and worked to cut the watermelon in half. “Wild animals Kon?”, he reminded Kon as he tried to push through the thick fruit peel.

 

“Oh yeah.” He watched the teen as he managed to dig into the skin and carefully began to cut it in half. “I think there were some birds where all the fruits were cause I _think_ I heard some noises there. But I didn’t find anything big and scary or anything.”

 

He leaned in with interest as Tim managed to cut the fruit open. They both blinked in surprise at the lime green flesh. The pair exchanged surprised looks before Tim walked over to the fire he had gotten started right before Kon had shown up. Kon followed and they both stared at the fruit within the light.

 

There was a long moment of silence.

 

“That’s the strangest melon I’ve ever seen dude.”

 

“You and me both.”

 

Kon plucked one half out of Tim’s hands and carefully sniffed it. “It smells like a watermelon.” He eyed the outside skin. “It looks like a watermelon.” He gave Tim a small grin, “It should taste like a melon…right?”

 

The larger boy held his hand out, pointing at the batarang. “Hand me that thing wouldja?”

 

The shorter boy handed the sharp implement over and watched as Kon cut a small piece of the fruit off. With a a quick look at Tim, Kon bite into the fleshy fruit. His eyebrows shot up at the first taste. He was quick to swallow the bite down before he spoke, “It tastes _just_ like a watermelon!” 

 

Tim stared in surprise at the fruit in his hands, “Seriously?”

 

Kon nodded enthusiastically as he cut another piece off and held it up to Tim’s lips, “See for yourself!”

 

The teen took the proffered fruit and carefully bit into it. His expression went from cautious to surprised as he chewed. Kon grinned at the change in expression, “Weird right?”

 

Tim’s exhale was a huff of amusement as he raised a hand up to cover his mouth. He swallowed before speaking, “And no seeds either.”

 

The meta grinned at his best friend as he cut a large piece of the melon, “Should we check the other fruit out too?” He held the piece out to Tim.

 

Tossing the rind near the edge of the fire, Tim accepted the second piece and sat down. “It would be a waste to check all of them. I don’t think I could eat that much fruit.”

 

With a slightly disappointed look at their food supply, Kon dropped down next to his friend. “I guess you’re right.” He took a large bite of the sweet fruit, savoring the natural taste as he stared into the fire. There was a long moment of companionable silence as Kon cut the fruit and shared it with Tim.

 

Kon took in the sound of the ocean waters rolling against the beach. The warm sound of the fire crackling. The sound of the breeze playing with the palm leaves. And if he focused hard enough, he could make out the soft croons and singing of birds. If he were to close his eyes, Kon could almost believe he was in Hawaii again.

 

A soft sigh of contentment drew his attention away the orange glow of the fire. He turned around to look at Tim. Who was contently leaning back on his arms and staring up at the sky. And showing off his abs.

 

“Whoa.” Kon blinked in surprise at the sight. Tim didn’t shift his position in the slightest and continued to lean back against the sands as he turned his head slightly to give Kon a curious look. For his part, Kon leaned in slightly and poked at Tim’s abs. “Okay seriously? These are real?”

 

He gave his friend a thoroughly amused look, “Did you think they were painted on?”

 

Kon waved a hand in the air as he kept poking the six pack in front of him, “I always thought that they were…I dunno, just your uniform. Didn’t think you _actually_ were this ripped.”

 

Tim smirked playfully at his friend, “Do I detect some jealousy in your voice Kon?”

 

Kon scoffed at the notion before he pulled back, “Psh, as _if_.” He gestured at his own body with one hand, “ _Super_ body here. I don’t have anything to be jealous of.”

 

With an amused grin, Tim let himself fall back against the white sand. Kon followed his example and lay down to stare up at the wide starry sky. There was a loud pop as a large piece of wood was eaten away by the fire and Kon quietly asked, “How long do you think it’ll take for everyone to find us?”

 

Tim bit the inside of his lip before he replied in an equally quiet tone, “Probably a week. Maybe more, maybe less.” He shrugged against the ground, “We can hope for the latter.”

 

Kon’s soft sigh hung in the air for a moment. Tim’s eyes moved over one unfamiliar constellation after another, tracing the stars quietly to pass the time.

 

“‘m glad though.”

 

Tim twisted his head around to look at Kon, “About what?”

 

Kon was still staring up at the sky, his hands tucked underneath his head. “That its you here with me. I’m glad about that.”

 

A soft heat filled his chest, warming him up more efficiently than the burning fire. “Me too.”

 

Again silence.

 

Tim suddenly snorted as a thought came to mind. This time, Kon turned around to look at him. “What?”

 

Tim grinned up at nothing as he spoke, “I was just thinking of the ‘What if you were stuck on an island and you could take three things with you’ question. Never thought I’d actually _be_ in that situation.”

 

Kon gave a snort of his own, “Our lives are fucking _weird_.”

 

—

 

Tim rolled his black tights up into a ball and threw it down on the ground. He glanced behind him to check on Kon. The meta had his back turned towards him and was pulling his black t-shirt over his head. Satisfied that his friend was not paying attention to him, Tim quickly shucked his underwear down and removed the protective cup he had been wearing.

 

He barely held back a small sigh of relief before tossing the cup down next to his rolled up tights and quickly pulled his underwear back on. He bent down to pick the tights and cup up. Before he could ask if it was okay to turn around, Kon spoke, “Do you want my shirt? Y’ know, for a pillow?” 

 

The smaller boy turned to look at his friend as stood in front of him. He blinked, momentarily taken aback at the expanse of bare skin in front of him. He blinked again as Kon waved the shirt at him and shook his head. “No thanks. I’ll just use this.” He held up the dark tights and moved underneath their hut. Tim wondered why he was suddenly hit by a case of dry throat. Especially since he had just had a nice long drink of the bubble pink coconut milk. He swallowed as he tossed his make-shift pillow down and quickly dropped down as well.

 

He watched as Kon sat on his knees and rolled his shirt up around his folded jeans. And he couldn’t stop himself from tracing the outline of Kon’s body. His eyes went over the line of Kon’s arms, the curve of his knees, the round shoulders…the blue eyes curiously looking at him. “What?”

 

Tim froze as he realized what he had been doing and that he had been caught. “Nothing.” he replied stiffly before turning over. With his back towards Kon, Tim hoped desperately that he wasn’t the type to have a full body blush.

 

He lay desperately still as his hearing went into overdrive. The sound of Kon dropping his own pillow into the sand before dropping down on the ground was as loud as a gunshot to him. Tim swallowed past the lump in his throat, “Good night.”

 

“Yeah, night.”

 

—


	2. Day 02 - The Morning Edition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its Day 02 and things are getting slightly awkward

The first thing that Kon noticed was the sound of the waves rolling over the beach. Even that took many long moments to process. He lay on his side, slightly curled up as he breathed in deep the salty smell of the ocean and the beach mixed together. Groggily, he opened his eyes and stared blankly at the empty space in front of him.

 

A part of him recognized the fact that the space next to him was not supposed to be empty except he couldn’t get his brain to wake up enough to remind him why. He inhaled deeply, yawning at the exhale as he stretched his hands over his head. His sleep had been broken and disturbed. It felt as though he kept waking up every 5 minutes whenever a particularly large wave would crash over the beach or some wood would pop in the fireplace. He felt horribly tired as he sat up, lolling his head in lazy circles. 

 

He raised a hand up to the back of his neck, trying to work the kink out of it. Sleeping on sand for a whole night was not as comfortable as he’d expected it to be. He stared blearily in front of him, hand still rubbing his sore muscles as he stared straight ahead of him - at the bright blue ocean and a stretching Robin.

 

His brain was still in the process of booting up as he blankly stared at Tim go through his morning routine. He sat and watched his friend as he twisted and stretched and worked some kinks out and didn’t have a single thought running through his head. Kon was not exactly a morning person however; he wasn’t exactly a zombie either after waking up. Perhaps the lack of caffeine and sleep was responsible for his brain waking up with all the speed of a turtle.

 

Sleepy eyebrows went up slightly as he watched Tim neatly fold himself in half, flattening the palms of his hands against the sand without bending his knees at all. _‘Now that’s flexible.’_ Kon thought to himself. The meta let out a small noise of amazement as his eyes traced the long legs, _‘Nice legs too. Haven’t noticed them in a while. When’d they get so long anyways? Wow, that’s one ugly scar. Wonder how he got that one. Heh, his ass got better too I wonder how much practice you gotta do to pull that stretch off…’_  

 

With a small smile to himself, Kon was so zoned out that he didn’t notice Tim slowly straightening up and turning towards the hut. Which is why he jumped slightly when he felt a warm hand drop on his shoulder. Startled out of his thoughts (and haze), Kon turned to look into Tim’s concerned face.

 

“You okay? You seem a bit…off.”

 

 Kon sighed deeply and gave his friend a bleary look, “Couldn’t sleep. Kept waking up cause of the ocean or the fire or cause I was too damn uncomfortable. We gotta do something bout making the sleeping thing more comfortable dude.”

 

Tim patted his shoulder, “We’ll try to figure something out. Come on, lets eat.”

 

Kon sighed heavily and dragged himself out of the shade of the hut, raising a hand to shield his eyes as he stepped out into the warm sun. He raised both arms over his head, locking his fingers along the way as he stretched to his toes (hovering a few inches off the ground as he held the stretch). With a satisfied sigh he dropped back down and ambled over to where Tim was cutting their breakfast up.

 

“So.” Kon started as he sat down cross legged in front of Tim and his make-shift blanket/cape. He watched Tim slice a small portion of one side of the coconut as he continued, “What’s the plan for today?”

 

Having successfully cutting the coconut open, without spilling any of its brightly colored milk, Tim passed the fruit over before picking up a kiwi. “I was thinking that we should go check the lake out. Coconut milk is fine and all but I’d rather drink water.”

 

Kon picked up the cut off part of the coconut and gently knocked it against Tim’s head, “Don’t look a gift coconut in the mouth Wonder Boy.”

 

Tim snatched the fruit from thin air, lightly frowning at his friend before continuing, “And we should also check out the place you told me about. Where we could try fishing.” He rolled the avocado around in his hand before he started to cut it, “Or we could try our hand at trying to find and capture some birds? Although I’d feel better trying to catch some fish. Here.”

 

“Thanks.” Kon accepted half of the fruit and snorted in amusement. “I’m diggin the way these fruits are colored man. Who’s ever heard of purple fruit?”

 

Tim’s grin was playful as he repeated Kon’s words, “Don’t look a gift avocado in the mouth Superboy.”

 

—

 

Tim knelt beside the lake, bringing his cupped hands down into the clear water before raising them up to his lips. He greedily drank the sweet, cool water down, sighed in content as he finished. He dipped his hands back into the water, having another deep drink before he wiped his mouth mouth with his hand.

 

Other than the slightly sweet aftertaste, Tim was very pleased that they had a clean source of water available. He did find it interesting however that, despite the size of the lake, there didn’t seem to be any fish in it. More to the point, he glanced around the wide circumference of the water body. There didn’t seem to be any animals here at all. It was slightly disconcerting. He looked up at the thick foliage surrounding them, his eyes straining to catch sight of anything.

 

“What’dya think?”

 

He raised an eyebrow at the voice, looking up at Kon as he hovered over him. Tim stood up, brushing dirt off his knees as he did so. “I think we should clean up before doing anything else.” Kon let out a whoop of delight and the next thing Tim knew, there was a rush of air and a large splash of water smacking him in the face.

 

With a completely put out expression, Tim pushed his wet bangs out of his face to glare at Kon was he came up on the surface. The meta was laughing as he ran a hand through his hair, pushing the longer front strands back as he sheepishly apologized, “Oops?”

 

Tim slicked his wet hair back before stepping into the water, being mindful of his step before he began to swim up to his friend. Kon’s expression was still sheepish as he watched Tim swim up to him, “Sorry about that.”

 

He couldn’t help but sigh in defeat internally at Kon’s puppy dog look. _‘When’d he learn that look anyways.’_ , Tim couldn’t help but grouse to himself as he shook his head, “It’s alright. Just so long as you didn’t -!”

 

He jerked as he felt something brush against his leg, his hands reaching out to grab Kon instinctively. Kon’s eyes went from playful to sharp at the sudden movement, his voice urgent as he asked, “What is it?”

 

His own voice was calm and cool as his eyes attempted to see into the water, “I felt something brush my leg. Can you see what it was?”

 

He watched Kon as he looked down into his water, his pupils dilating slightly as he made use of his x-ray vision. The tension in his shoulders dropped suddenly, “It was just a plant.”

 

“Plant?”

 

“Yeah, one of those long ones that grow underwater. The ones they always show on National Geographic.”

 

Tim raised an eyebrow and glanced at the water, “No fish or anything?”

 

Kon glanced around him, “Nope. Just a whole lotta plants. In all kinds of colors.”

 

With a roll of his shoulders, Tim let the tension bleed out of him. His head dipped down slightly as he sighed softly in relief, his grip on Kon’s triceps loosened with the exhale. _That_ was a surprise he could have done without.

 

A sudden, sharp intake from Kon made Tim look up questioningly. He was slightly taken aback at realizing just how close he was to the larger boy. And it seemed that Kon had reached a similar awareness. Both boys went still, hands freezing in place as their eyes met.

 

Tim felt his breath halt as he gazed up into a pair of brilliant blue eyes. He was taken aback at their color. _‘Have…they always been so blue?’_ he couldn’t help but ponder momentarily before he attempted to decipher the emotion behind them. Shock was clear enough, a hint of shyness but most of all…wonder.

 

To have that expression and focus directed at him made Tim feel extremely self conscious. The urge to squirm or fidget in nervousness heightened with every passing second and manifested in a small shudder running through him. Which in turn made Kon’s fingers on his waist twitch against his skin and he couldn’t hold back the sharp inhale at the feeling. 

 

He wondered when Kon had grasped him by the waist and why he hadn’t noticed it before. But he was certainly noticing it now. He was extremely aware of those large hands resting against his skin - doing nothing but just…gently holding him in place.

An involuntary twitch ran through his fingers, tightening his grasp on Kon which made the meta’s eyes flare. And with a suddenness which made took him aback, Kon let go and pushed himself back several feet.

 

They stared at each other, pink faced, short of breath and confused at the moment that they just had. In an attempt to get some degree of control back, Tim cleared his throat softly. “We should clean up.”

 

Kon gave him a jerky nod before turning around and diving under the water.

 

He wasn’t completely sure why, but that gesture by the meta felt very much…like a dismissal. Puzzled at the small ache in his chest, Tim followed his example and dove under water as well and swam in the opposite direction.

—

Kon never liked silence much. It was much too…oppressing for him. He liked to have some kind of noise in the background anytime he was doing anything. Music, a tv show, a movie - anything worked just so long as there wasn’t complete silence where ever he was. However, this was the first time he was completely unwilling to break the silence between him and his best friend.

 

He wasn’t sure at _all_ what had happened back there in the lake. And frankly, he was a bit too scared to ask. He wasn’t totally sure if he wanted an answer. He wasn’t sure if he knew what to ask anyways…

 

Their exchanges after coming out of the water had been terse and _extremely_ precise. Tim had kept his questions and responses brief, clipped and to the point. Kon had chosen to stick with gestures and grunts over words. Which is how he had led Tim to the berry bushes where they were currently located.

 

They were sitting on either sides of a particularly large bush of red berries, quietly plucking the juicy fruit off and eating it, seemingly ignoring the party on the other side. It was the worst uncomfortable silence Kon ever had the misfortune of being a part of and _that_ was saying something given that he had been in some _particularly uncomfortable_ situations before.

 

He pressed his lips together, fingers gently rolling a fat berry between his hands as he hesitantly asked, “What…what do you think we should do next?”

 

There wasn’t a sound from the other side. Not that _that_ was a surprise. There hadn’t been a single sound from Tim’s side for a good twenty minutes, not even while plucking the fruit off the bushes. Kon was half expecting not to receive an answer but was grateful when Tim’s quiet voice replied, “You mentioned a place where we can fish. I’d like to see that.”

 

Relived that Tim was talking, Kon couldn’t stop himself from replying with slightly more enthusiasm than required, “Oh yeah sure! It’s like this small cove and I’m pretty sure we could find some crabs or something there. There was this rock there which would work as a good fishing spot. If there’s any fish there then…”

 

He broke off as a loud, trilling sound cut him off. Kon paused in surprise, blinking once before cautiously standing up. Tim was already on his feet, eyes darting over the tree tops as the trilling song continued in a sweet, low pitch. The pair exchanged a look. And before they could decide on any course of action, a flock of brilliantly colored birds came swooping through the trees.

 

Kon stared at the display of colorful birds as they suddenly let out a loud warble and began to perch themselves high up on the fruit trees. Intelligent, curious, cautious, beady eyes stared at the intruders as they stared back. Kon was tempted to describe the birds as ‘beautiful’ but felt that that would have been a bit of an understatement.

 

The birds were of fairly large size, close to a bald eagle. With small heads which reminded the meta of pigeons except they had larger, sharper beaks. A graceful neck which swept into full body and the most magnificent plumage Kon had ever seen on any avian creature, peacocks included. Long feathers which curled up at the ends, shivering slightly with every movement.

 

The meta exchanged an amazed look with his friend. Tim’s face was alight with wonder and delight, a small grin on his lips and Kon couldn’t help but mirror it. His gaze went back up at the birds and asked in a hushed tone, “Think they’re tame?”

 

Tim’s voice was just as low, “I doubt it. They’ve probably never seen humans before and most likely would consider us a threat. I seriously doubt that they’ll approach us.”

 

A feeling of disappointment ran through him as he watched a bird with blue and deep purple feathers tears into the soft flesh of a rotting papaya. It was a real pity. Kon would have dearly loved to have at least stroked one of the birds to see if their feathers were as soft as they seemed.

 

But the birds seemed content with the fruit hanging on the trees. Far away from these strange creatures they had never seen before. Their sweet songs and chirps and trills providing a low background noise as the pair sat back down to finish eating. A few berries in, Kon felt like smacking his forehead as hard as he could (but opted instead to tightly close his eyes and lips). _‘Oh you stupid! Shoulda gone to sit with Tim instead of staying here! Stupid stupid stu-_ ’ “Huh?”

 

Kon blinked in surprise as he watched a few of the birds flutter down on the ground. A few of them stared at him for a long moment before hopping over towards another bush and they began to devour the fruit straight off the bush. But one of them (with black feathers tinted with blue and green) kept its eyes locked on Kon.

 

The meta tried his best not to blink, hissing at Tim, “Tim, you gotta come over here. As quietly as you can. Some of the birds came down here.”

 

He held his breath as the bird titled its head slightly, chirping softly before hopping forward cautiously. Kon barely heard a rustle and found Tim kneeling beside him. He didn’t dare to turn his gaze away from the dark eyes silently judging him. The bird seemed to be taking into account Tim’s sudden presence and deemed him harmless before taking another hop forward.

 

Kon held his breath and slowly began to extend his hand, several berries resting on the palm. The birds eyes darted to the hand and gave another chirp before tilting its head forward, seemingly attempt to took a look. He could hear Tim’s breath halt for a moment as the bird came right up to Kon’s hand and turned to look at both for a moment before plucking a berry out of the meta’s hand.

 

Elation spread through him and he didn’t hold back from grinning wildly at the bird as it plucked the remaining berries out of Kon’s hand. Once finished, the bird looked up at Kon and trilled softly at him, gently fluttering its wings. His eyes narrowed slightly in confusion but then the bird pecked lightly against his palm and trilled again.

 

His eyes darted to the fruit, “You want more?” he asked the bird questioningly.

 

Another flutter was the only response he got and he exchanged a small look with Tim. “Okay then…”

 

He quickly plucked some more berries off and placed them in his hand, a larger pile this time than before. The bird gave him a happy chirp and quickly devoured the fruit. Kon grinned at Tim, “Can you believe this?”

 

Tim gave him a small laugh and shook his head. Kon let out a small ‘awk!’ of surprise when the bird suddenly opened its wings and with a few flaps, perched itself on Kon’s shoulder.

 

A laugh rumbled in his chest as the bird chirped happily and rubbed its head against his hair. Kon raised a hand to gently stroke the bird’s neck and chest  as Tim gave him another small laugh, “I think he likes you.”

 

—

 

Tim eyed the cove in contemplation. _‘Perhaps we should move the hut over to this side of the island_.’ he mused to himself as he watched a pale crab scuttle along underwater. _‘It’s barely five minutes away from the lake and the fruit. Although I do wonder how high the tide gets…’_

 _  
_

His eyes darted over the beach, his eyes taking into account a few stray seashells and starfish scattered around him. _‘We also need to find some way to keep some water at hand. Perhaps a few sea shells if there are any large enough…_ ’ Tim walked over the nearest pale blue shell peeking out through the sand and dug it out. He eyed the curved shell before placing it back down and moved over to another.

 

After five attempts, he found a few nice large clam shells which would hold at least a glass of water each. _‘Guess we’ll have to make do with these_.’ Tim thought to himself as he washed the shells clean in the ocean water. He felt something bump into his foot and looked down to find a hermit crab bypass his foot and scuttle away across the sand.

 

Tim huffed in amusement before turning around, his eyes searching for Kon. Who was currently in mid-air with his new friend. The bird was positively delighted that his new friend could fly and had been singing its sweet song to Kon ever since they had taken to the skies. The bird would dip and dive around and trill in delight as Kon would mimic it. _‘At least he’s amused._ ’ he couldn’t help but think with amusement before he brought a hand up to cup his mouth. “Kon!”

 

The meta looked down at the voice and quickly swooped down, hovering in front of Tim. “Em, sorry about that. So, whatd’ya think?”

 

Adjusting his grip on the seashells, Tim spoke, “Its a good spot to fish. I think we should probably move the hut over here too. Its closer to the food and water. Though we’d have to watch out for some of the wildlife bumping into us but I suppose if we set the hut up up near the treeline, it shouldn’t be that much of a problem.”

 

Kon eyes followed to where Tim was pointing, remaining quiet as the boy continued speaking, “I think we should move the hut right now instead of waiting.” The meta shrugged easily. “Sure, lets get it done.”

 

For a moment, Tim’s heart skipped a beat as Kon held his hand out for him. And with a smile (filled with relief that nothing had really changed between them), Tim took hold of Kon and let him fly them back to their campsite.

 

After a bit of discussion, they decided that Kon could use his TTK to simply carry the structure as it was to the new location while Tim cleaned up the campfire and gathered their meager belongings. Tim watched Kon fly away, carefully holding their shelter with his TTK and turned towards the remaining items.

 

He quickly bundled their clothes (and his belt) into his cape before tying the dark, heavy material into a makeshift bag. He moved over to the campfire, tossing aside the rocks and shifting sand over the burnt wood before standing up and dusting his hands off.

 

He was frowning at his hands went he heard a familiar song behind him. He turned around to see Kon coming back, his feathered friend singing even as Kon came to hover in front of him. “Got the hut all set up. Where’s our stuff?” Tim pointed at the dark ‘bag’ a few feet away and the meta swooped down to grab it, hauling it over his shoulder before coming back in front of Tim.

 

“Ready to go?”

 

Tim held his hand out, “Lets go.”

 

—

 

Kon was really impressed with the intelligence of this bird. It was a lot more human than some of his classmates back in Smallville High. “Thanks”, he gently patted the bird on the head as it held out a large soft leaf up to him before flying away to find another one.

 

He was currently several feet above the ground, in search of the softest plants he could find which could double as bedding for their new hut. _‘I’ll be damned if I’m sleeping on hard sand again tonight.’_ Kon thought to himself as he tore another leaf off. As he continued with his fairly menial task, his thoughts began to drift.

 

The awkwardness of the morning had dissipated into nothingness. And if Kon tried, he could almost forget that anything had happened. Except that he couldn’t _stop_ thinking about it.

 

It felt as though it was the first time he had really seen Tim. Which was a fairly stupid notion considering that he had seen Tim _a lot_ over the course of the years. He could still remember the first time Tim had taken his mask off and revealed those baby blue eyes. And yet, today was when it really seemed to strike him. The clear blue of Tim’s eyes as they gazed up at him in surprise and…something he couldn’t name.

 

His fingers couldn’t forget the feel of Tim’s hard, lithe body shivering underneath them. Or the way his fingers had tightened on his arms. Or the sudden tingle that had run through him at that last one. It had been enough to make Kon want to jump out of his skin. Thus, him jumping back as though Tim had suddenly brought out a piece of Kryptonite.

 

Absentmindedly, he petted the bird again as it brought him another large leaf and shifted to another tree to tear off some vines.

 

Kon was fairly confused about his reactions to Tim. _‘He’s my best friend. You shouldn’t have those kinda reactions for your best friend…’_ He moodily eyed a vine before snapping it down. He sighed as he reached for another, _‘I thought I got over this…’_

 _  
_

It seemed like eons ago when he had first thought that he might possibly have feelings of a romantic nature towards Robin. But Kon had quickly decided that he had been simply been mistaking his feelings and all what he had wanted was a friend. And frankly, he had been extremely pleased with himself for that decision because Robin had turned out to be the best friend he’d ever had.

 

He had thought that the warmth in his chest whenever Robin gave him a small smile was because he had made his friend proud. And that Robin was a person whose opinion mattered the most because he was smart and he was his friend. And that the heat in his chest whenever he made Tim laugh was because of pride that _he_ was capable of making Tim laugh out loud.

 

Kon couldn’t help but groan and smack his head against a tree trunk (eliciting a concerned warble from his friend). He was starting to understand the phrase ‘hindsight was 20/20’. Looking back at it, he wondered _why_ he had stuck to such a rigid mindset where all his reactions and opinions involving Robin were so limited to keeping him within the ‘friends’ box. He had felt the same things with Cassie (to a lesser intensity but still…) so why was it that he had seen Tim as just a friend and never considered the possibility of more?

 

 _‘Cause he’d never go for it.’_ a voice in his head chimed in, making Kon pause. _‘He’s gone out with plenty of girls. Maybe some part of me always knew that I’d never have a chance…’_ Kon stared blankly into the dark wood, his heart sinking at the thought. He didn’t want that…he didn’t want to think that any possibly feelings of his might not have a chance.

 

Okay so his feelings at present were about as solid as wisps of smoke but… _‘Where there’s smoke, there’s fire right?’_ Kon looked up as the bird gently bumped its head into his cheek, another worried warble falling from it as it eyed Kon. The meta gave him a small smile, “I’m okay.”

 

With a sigh and a shake of his head, he straightened up, “Lets get some of the palm leaves and go back huh?”

 

—

 

Tim was securing the hut with extra sand around its support when he noticed Kon returning. He brushed his hands off and stood up as Kon landed in front of him, a giant pile of leaves in his arms.

 

The smaller brunette eyed the pile for a moment before looking up at Kon. He paused for a moment, taking in Kon’s expression and stiff body language and wondered briefly if he should ask what was wrong. He quickly pushed the thought of away, half scared that perhaps Kon had been thinking back to this morning. And _that_ was one topic that Tim did not wish to get into at present.

 

The meta was eying the long, shallow pit he had dug underneath the hut with curiosity. “What’s that for?” He asked before he stuck his head in from the side for a closer look. Tim began to sift through the leaves, placing the palm fronds on one side as he answered, “I thought that making a slight depression would give some space for the leaves and give an impression of a bed.”

 

Kon hummed under his breath before turning back to Tim. “Need any help with that?” Tim didn’t look up as he continued sorting the leaves, “I can manage. Why don’t you try to see if there’s any fish around? We can try to make a fishing pole with some of the grappling wire left over.”

 

“Sure.”

 

Tim paused for a moment from his task and slowly craned his neck to look at Kon as he flew up. With a slightly irritable sigh, Tim brought a hand up to rub his forehead. _‘You’re avoiding the issue_.’ he scolded himself. He scrubbed the hand over his face, sighing slightly into the palm of his hand. He really really _really_ didn’t want to think about that moment because…he really didn’t have any answers for it.

 

Well, no answer that he was particularly interested in exploring in any case.

 

He scooped up a good quantity of the soft leaves before shifting forward on his knees to toss them into the ‘bed’. He really did _not_ want to think about how it felt to have Kon so close to him. He was _not_ interested in thinking about how his skin felt underneath him. He did _not_ care how his fingers felt against his bare skin. And he _especially_ did _not_ care _at all_ about how Kon had practically pushed him away.

 

 _‘Oh who am I kidding_.’ Tim groaned slightly and hung his head. He could all of the that _except_ that last option. Kon had clearly not wanted to be that close to him so he had pushed him away. No male would want to be _that_ close to another guy, even if they were best friends and had been through thick and thin together.

 

 _‘It’s a useless avenue to persue_.’ he told himself before picking up another pile of leaves and vines. _‘He’d never be interested anyways. He’s never given the slightest indication of showing any interest in any other guys. Just give up before you start developing any feelings of any kind._ ’

 

Tim stared at the green leaves and muttered softly, “If only it were that easy…”

 

A yell caught his attention and he turned around towards it. He watched as the dark bird dove down towards the body of water, sharp talons out. Within a blink of an eye, it had snatched up a particularly large fish and was flapping back up towards Kon.

 

Kon noticed Tim looking at them. He brought his hands up to cup his mouth and yelled “Looks like we’re having fish for lunch!”


	3. Day 02 - The Evening Edition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its Day 02 and things are getting slightly awkward

“Elvis.”

 

Tim paused to stare at him, “I’m sorry?”

 

Kon was eying the bird as it was curiously hopping after a hermit crab, “The bird. I was thinking to name it Elvis. Like, Elvis Presley.”

 

He didn’t have to turn around to see Tim’s droll look, he could sense it anyways. “Not the best name for a bird Kon.”

 

“Why not?” he asked with a shrug, “It sings a lot and its got shiny feathers. I think it fits.”

 

Tim snorted as he unraveled a long line of thick wire, “Why not call it Elton John by that logic?”

 

Kon mumbled something unintelligible under his breath as he continued to strip down a long piece of wood using his TTK. Trying to find a good name for a pet was harder than he had ever considered possible. He peeled off another thin strip of bark, directing the dark piece of wood to fall into the small pile by his thigh.

 

He held the long, stripped branch up to eye level and assessed the smoothness of the wooden pole. Satisfied that he had done a good job, he placed it beside its twin and wondered what he should do next.

 

Lazily, he propped both arms on his crossed thighs and stared off into the blue expanse before him. He watched the white tipped waves roll in over the beach and slowly pull back. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath of the salty air. If he tried just a bit, he could almost pretend that he was back in Hawaii.

 

Nostalgia swept through him, making him squeeze his eyes tighter as he recalled the sights and sounds of his first home. How he missed those simple days…With a small almost mournful sigh, he opened his eyes. With a shake of his head, he turned a lazy eye around to search for his new friend and found the bird focusedly scratching into the sand. _‘What the hell….’_ he wondered with a raised eyebrow as he watched the dark bird burrow a small hole.

 

His confusion rose as the bird nestled itself into the small hole it had dug before seemingly falling asleep. “Just like a chicken…”, he couldn’t stop himself from muttering.

 

“Hmm?” Tim looked up at the quiet words before craning around to look in the direction where Kon was staring.”I suppose so.”

 

Kon’s gazed ticked a few inches over to the right and quietly watched his friend work. He watched familiar hands work at making some crude hooks. He watched long fingers twist and bend some wire ( _‘Wonder where he got that from…’_ ) before they quickly wrapped some of the grappling wire around a wrist. A wrist that seemed so small and fragile every time he grasped with his hand. Which didn’t mean to imply that Tim had girly wrists because he really didn’t.

 

He had nice manly wrists. Just like his fore arms. Which were nicely shaped and muscled and very very manly. And also very scarred. His eyebrows came together in a frown as his eyes darted up from one scar to another. Seeing all those scars just…freaked him out. And they seemed to get worse the higher up his gaze traveled on Tim’s arm.

 

The large gash on his neck made a sick feeling rise in his throat. To think that someone had actually managed to cut Tim like that…not nick, but actually _cut_ that - He shook his head slightly and swallowed down the bitter lump in his throat.

 

Along with the thought that he hadn’t been there to stop Tim from getting hurt. That he hadn’t been there to beat the crap out of anyone who had gotten _that_ close to Tim’s face and neck with a blade. That handsome face that was currently a study in concentration as he worked. His blue eyes focused and intense as he concentrated on his task, completely ignorant of his friend’s stare. Those blue eyes which were just like the…

 

“Sky.”

 

And were now looking straight into his eyes, half distracted as he asked, “What?”

 

“uuuuuh.” Kon floundered as his mind scrambled for any legitimate reason why he had suddenly blurted out ‘sky’. One which didn’t involve the words ‘I was staring at your eyes and they look just like the sky and are kinda pretty’. His gaze ticked to the bird and he blurted out, “For the bird! Its name! Skye. Cause it flies and all…”

 

The slow eyebrow raise which Tim did made him want to dig a hole into the sand and stick his head in it. It made him feel like a bumbling idiot especially when Tim’s lips began to twitch slightly at the corners. “Nice naming sense.”

 

Defensively, Kon crossed his arms, “Don’t mock my naming sense! Its a perfectly good name!” And at Tim’s amused look, he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Well fine, then _you_ give me a better name.”

 

He watched the smaller man pause and search for a name. “Thadeus.”

 

And now it was his turn to do the slow eyebrow raise. “Thadeus? _Seriously?_ Of all the names?”

 

“Better than Sky. That’s like naming a dog Earth because it walks on the ground.”

 

Unable to stop his mouth from running off (even with his brain screaming at him to pull the brakes), “At least its less stuffy than _Thadeus_. Jeez Tim, you gotta learn how to act your own age instead of like a 40 year old geezer.”

 

That earned him a confused (and slightly hurt) look from Tim as he turned his attention back to his lap. His voice was dead even and cool as he spoke and it made a part of Kon twitch uncomfortably. “If there’s anyone here who needs to learn to act his own age, its not me _Conner_.”

 

And that just made him cringe. His brain was rolling its eyes at his tongue and was in full-blown lecture mode. ‘That’s what you get for not paying attention to me! That’s what you get for not thinking before opening that stupid mouth of yours!’. Without a word, Kon stiffly stood up. He didn’t even bother dusting the sand off his legs before he took off into the air and headed into the forest. He picked a tree at random and began to knock his head against the tough bark muttering, “Stupid stupid _stupid asshole!_ ”

 

—

 

Tim sat in front of the fire, blankly watching the flames burn as the sun began to set over the far horizon. After Kon’s sudden departure, he had managed to finish making a pair of crude fishing poles _and_ cover the sides of their hut so that they could have sufficient protection from the sun. But even that must have been a good hour or two ago.

 

After finishing his task, he had nothing better to do than to wait for Kon to return. And wonder what the hell had happened. Nothing like some introspection when you had nothing better to do on a tropical island in the middle of nowhere.

 

Tossing in another piece of wood, Tim let his thoughts wander. _‘Maybe I shouldn’t have made fun of him for wanting to name the bird that._ ’ The bird who was flown away after waking up and realizing that its ‘owner’ was no longer there. _‘Its his bird…he can name it anything he wants._ ’ But even so, he couldn’t understand why Kon’s taunt about acting his own age had actually…stung.

 

They had teased each other aplenty over the years. And people other than (and including) Kon had often pointed out that Tim needed to cut loose and relax. And he often took that advice with a small indulging smile. This was the first time that hearing it from a friend had actually hurt.

 

Hurt him in a way that made him want to retaliate in kind. And he had felt a cold stab of pleasure at Kon’s suddenly stricken expression. Which had immediately turned lead heavy and dropped uncomfortably into his stomach when Kon had flown away with a word. An uncomfortable burning sensation had arisen at that and it had been hard to squash that emotion down.

 

Hard but not impossible.

 

So after a few long minutes of meditative breathing and a small measure of compartmentalization, Tim had returned to his tasks with renewed focus. He had finished making the fishing poles, he can sorted out the large palm fronds, he had managed to tie them in place and he even wound up re-doing their ‘beds’ (which had made him squirm uncomfortably when he thought about it).

 

Which had led to him just sitting there on the hard sand, a soft breeze making the fire dance and crackle merrily as he waited for Kon to return. _‘If he’ll return at all…’_ , he couldn’t help but think a tad miserably. The immediately shook the thought away. Kon wouldn’t…he wasn’t the type of person who woul-

 

His head snapped up as he heard a familiar bird call. Hopeful eyes turned towards the treeline, going left to right as he strained to catch sight of Kon in the dimming light. But…he saw nothing. He held down the urge to sigh and instead, turned to look the other way. Out at the ocean and the sun which had almost set. _‘Maybe I should have gone after him…’_ he thought to himself worriedly.

 

He clenched his fingers together into a tight fist before releasing them. _‘If…When Kon comes back, I’ll apologize to him.”_ He cast another worried glance at the sun and the small sliver which hung over the horizon. A loud rustling noise came to his ears and he turned around yet again, hopeful and scared at the same time. Relief swept through him as he watched Kon and his bird come into sight.

 

He immediately stood up and took a few steps forward. And suddenly froze as he recalled the hurt look on Kon’s face right before he had flown away. Hesitation made him stand there, wondering what to do before deciding that he would let Kon set the tone for the remainder of the day. Err…night.

 

He took another few steps forward, feet heavy and throat dry as he watched Kon gently land several feet in front of him. Kon met his eyes for a moment before looking away, uncomfortable and awkward as he cleared his throat. “I got us some fruit…for dinner.”

 

Slightly taken aback (but not wholly ungrateful that Kon didn’t want to talk about their ‘fight’), Tim nodded. “Lets eat then.”

 

—

 

The fruit had been his version of a peace offering and man, his knees had almost buckled in relief when Tim had just quietly gone along with it. He hadn’t been sure what kind of Tim he would face upon his return. Quiet, angry Tim or quiet, ‘I-don’t-want-to-talk-about-this’ Tim or worse, loud, angry Tim who would lecture him. But finding a quiet, anxious Tim had not been a part of his equation.

 

As they made their way through their papaya and drank down the sweet coconut milk, Tim was really…quiet. He had seemed extremely focused on eating his dinner as fast as possible (without choking on it). In fact, he had borderline glared at his coconut as he had drank the liquid. Which made any and all urge to even attempt a conversation with Tim die inside of him.

 

Which really didn’t help his resolution to actually apologize to Tim for being a complete unwarranted ass. Which lead to him feeding more of his fruit to the bird than eating it himself out of a complete lack of appetite. His feathered friend appreciated his gesture and ate the fruit with great gusto. 

 

Tossing down the last piece of his fruit down for the bird, Kon had stood up muttering, “I’m gonna…go to sleep.” And feeling as though he was carrying the world on his shoulders, he stumbled into their small hut and fell down into ‘his side’ of the ‘bed’. He curled up to his right, facing away from Tim’s side and let his miserable thoughts wash over.

 

He felt like a complete idiot. ‘ _A useless, stupid idiot._ ’ he amended as he curled his hands against the soft leaves. _‘Me and my stupid mouth. Clark’s always been telling me to think before I say anything. But noooo. I always gotta go and open my mouth and next thing I know, I’ve got my foot in it.’_

 

He was wondering the merits of smacking his palm against his forehead when a soft rustling caught his ear. He held his breath as Tim crawled into his own nest of leaves and lay as still as possible. Every soft rustle was as loud as a marching band inside his head as he waited for Tim to settle down.

 

Just when he was reminding himself to breath, he heard Tim whisper hesitantly, “Kon? I…can you…turn around please?”

 

With a good deal of trepidation, Kon slowly turned around. He kept his eyes on the dark leaves strewn over the sand even as he muttered, “Yeah?”

 

For several long moments, there was complete silence inside the shelter. The soft sound of the waves crashed between them and he couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Tim had fallen asleep. Just as he was working up the courage to raise his eyes to a higher point, Tim began to speak again. His voice was low and kind of shaky as he spoke, “About what happened before…I’m…I’m sorry.”

 

And suddenly it was so easy to look up at Tim. Only to find that he was also determinedly staring at some random spot on the floor as he spoke, “I…I shouldn’t have made fun of you like that. And I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.”

 

“It wasn’t your fault.” Kon hurriedly corrected him, his eyes staying on the dark mop of Tim’s head. “I was being an ass. You don’t have to apologize. It was totally my bad.” His eyes searched Tim’s face, looking for the older boy’s forgiveness. “ _I’m_ the one who should apologize. I was just… _an ass_.”

 

He caught sight of a small twitch in the corner of Tim’s lips and sucked in a small breath as Tim looked up with a half amused smile, “So…we’re both sorry?”

 

Kon let out a weak chuckle, “Pretty much.”

 

The silence between them this time was far less stifling as they both quietly lay there. Kon cleared his throat to get Tim’s attention. “So…I kinda decided on a name for the bird.”

 

“Oh yeah?” There was a faint thread of interest in Tim’s voice. “What did you decide.”

 

He had to bit down on the inside of his cheeks a little bit before replying, “Alvin.”

 

Tim let out a small snort of amusement, “Lemme guess, last name Draper?”

 

Kon gave his friend a small helpless shrug, “Hey I gave the bird a lot of different names and it started singing at that one so…it’s Alvin.”

 

“Good name for a bird.”, Kon saw the olive branch for what it was and accepted it gratefully.

 

“Yeah well…got it from a good guy.”

 

Tim didn’t seem to know what to do with that and Kon felt his heart warm at the almost bashful expression which came over Tim’s face.

 

“We should…rest.”

 

Tim’s eyes met his for a moment, “Good night Kon.”

 

“Yeah…G’night.” he echoed before he followed Tim’s lead and turned over. He adjusted his shirt-pillow underneath his head before closing his eyes. Feeling pleasantly light-hearted.


	4. Day 03 - Day Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Storm clouds are gathering, ready for a downpour

“It’s-been _-more-_ than-48-hours!”   
  


“We know Bart.”   
  


“And-they-still-aren’t-back-yet!”   
  


“I said they _might_ be back in two days. Not that they _would_ be. Some times it can take up to a little more than three days for the people to come back.”   
  


“Whats-the-longest-you’ve-zapped-someone-into-that-alternate-dimension-of-yours?”   
  


“Four days. It’s never been more than four days.”   
  


“So at best they could be home in another few minutes or in another two days?”   
  


“Basically…yeah.”   
  


“If-they-don’t-come-back-by-tonight,-we’ll-have-to-tell-Superman-and-Batman-though.”   
  


“Don’t remind me…”   
  


“Have I mentioned how sorry I am?”   
  


“Just some  fifty odd  times, Lenny…”   
  


—   
  


It was the low rumble of thunder that made him open his eyes the next morning. Tim raised his head off his lumpy excuse of a pillow and peered through the gently rustling palm fronds. He could tell it was overcast even though he couldn’t get a good look at the skies.   
  


Shifting forward on his elbows, Tim came up to the ‘walls’ of their hut and pushed a few leaves aside to look up. Heavy clouds covered the entire expanse of the sky. Light gray and dark gray clouds hovering in tatters above their heads but high and far apart from each other.    
  


_‘Storm clouds_.’ Tim noted quietly as he judged the height. _‘It’ll rain like hell if those clouds join up…but they’re pretty high up so maybe we’ll get lucky…’_   
  


He let the leaves fall back, turning around to look at Kon. The larger man was lying on his back, dead to the world as he slumbered on. The far away rolling of thunder didn’t even warrant a flutter of his eyelashes as he slept. Tim envied him in that moment as he lay down back in his place, deciding that he’d have a bit of a lie in this morning.    
  


Lying with his back facing the larger man, he closed his eyes and listened. The rumbling clouds, Kon’s breathing, the rustling leaves. Coming back more to Kon than the others however. Every breath made an urge rise up in him. To open his mouth and thank God that he had gotten his best friend back. Along with Bruce and Stephanie…   
  


Kon stirred, pulling him out of his thoughts. The soft rustle of leaves reached his ear, but he didn’t bother turning around to see Kon move around. But then he felt warm fingers brushing his waist. Tim froze, not able to let out a noise when he suddenly felt a hot body shifting to rest behind him. He held his breath, feeling oddly panicked at the sudden warm contact against his back.    
  


Kon’s hand was resting over his stomach, making him feel hot and cold at the same time. He could feel a hard chest brushing against his back and a leg pressing down on his calves. A soft breath brushed over the back of his neck, repetitive and light as a feather. It made something inside Tim freeze up and squirm while making his heart race. He’d never been this close to anyone outside of family. Even then, never in _bed_.    
  


Slowly, ever so slowly, he turned around to wake Kon up. And was taken aback for a long moment. It was as though he was seeing his friend for the first time. _‘No.’_ he corrected himself. This was the first time he was actually paying attention to what Kon looked like.   
  


The first thing he noted was the thickness of Kon’s lashes. They weren’t long but thick and lush, fluttering slightly as Kon dreamed. His eyes roamed over the peaceful expression, wondering if he had ever seen his friend look so peaceful. And he was so warm. Being this close to the warm Kryptonian, he could feel the body heat gently pouring off the man.   
  


Tim shivered at a brush of cold breeze against his back, stiffening yet again when the hand on his back shifted lower. _‘I wish it’d go lower.’_ the thought ran through his mind, making him turn red. And as though Kon had read his mind, the hand slipped down to rest against his covered ass.   
  


A shocked noise spilled out, the touch startling him bad enough to move out of Kon’s warm hold. Feeling shocked at the heat that was racing through him, the fact that he had just reacted to the touch and his randomly fulfilled wish, Tim tried to calm himself down. 

But ignoring his body and the sudden need inside of it wasn’t each. His heart was beating too fast, his face felt too hot and worst of all, he was half hard. Kon was stirring and before he realized it, Tim had crawled out of the shelter and was walking as fast as he could towards the lake.   
  


Maybe a quick swim would help clear his mind off the fact that he had just been in Kon’s arms. And had his hand on his butt…His face flushed yet again. _‘Shouldn’t have thought of that.’_ he told himself, an interested twitch coming from between his legs. By the time he reached the lake, every time he had tried to talk himself _out_ of thinking about Kon, he’d wound up going down a dirtier train of thought.   
  


Tim dove into the cool water, staying underwater for a few strokes before breaking the surface. The difference in temperatures made him shiver for a moment and made him think of Kon yet again.    
  


“ _Fuck_.” He groaned in defeat, swimming towards the large rock formations on the side, some of which could double well enough for a seat half submerged in the water. Once seated, Tim pulled his underwear off to get more comfortable and just gave in to his baser instincts.   
  


—   
  


His first thought after waking up was that it was kind of chilly. The second thought was that Tim had woken up before him…again. Yawning and stretching in his bed, Kon lay there for a moment as he tried to remember his dream. But the more he tried, the more it slipped out of his reach - like trying to catch water in a colander.   
  


With another yawn, Kon gave up and slipped out of the hut. He was half way through a yawn and a back stretch when he heard a familiar bird call. Before he could look around, he felt a heavy weight land on his left shoulder and a feathered head rub affectionately against his.    
  


Chuckling, Kon patted the bird’s neck and head, “Morning, Alvin.”   
  


The bird greeted him back, remaining in place as Kon looked one way and then the other in search of Tim. He frowned when he couldn’t see the man anywhere in sight. Just when he was wondering if maybe he should wait for him or go looking, he noticed a trail of footprints heading off into the trees.    
  


_‘The lake!_ _Duh!’_ Lightly slapping his forehead, he began to fly off in search of Tim. _‘Or maybe he went to get something to eat…’_ Alvin was flying along with him, zigzagging between the trees before flying high up into a tree to eat some ripe papaya.   
  


Leaving Alvin to do his thing, Kon continued flying as he tracked Tim down. Already he could see a glimmer of water between the trees and he hoped that Tim was there. Because he didn’t fancy doing laps around the island searching for his friend.   
  


When the tree’s began to thin more, Kon landed lightly onto the damp soil. Ducking underneath a branch with heavy green leaves, Kon pushed his way out into the open. A grin came to his lips when he saw the dark head sitting on the edge of the water body. _‘Thank God!’_ he thought to himself, mouth open to call out to Tim.   
  


But then he heard Tim whimper. Saw his body jerk and fall forward. Almost as though he wanted to hide the hand that was slowly moving up and down over his- Kon turned around immediately, slamming his back against the nearest tree with his face flaming red.    
  


_‘He wasn’t…Tim couldn’t…I didn’t just…’_ His brain was practically tripping over itself trying to form a full thought. Except he just couldn’t wrap his _mind_ around the sight he had just seen.   
  


_‘Maybe…I was imagining it?’_ he thought weakly to himself. Anything was possible right? With that thought, Kon slowly turned around, pressed his chest against the tree and peered around the corner.   
  


Tim was almost ten feet away from him, seated on hard rocks with most of his lower body submerged in the water. But not enough to hide the pumping motion of his hands…or the tip of his-   
  


Turning around yet again with his face feeling hot, Kon frantically tried to erase his mind of the sight. He hadn’t just seem his best friend jerking himself off. Nope, nope. Denial thy name is Kon-el. Tim was simply…washing his underwear. Yes, that sounded logical.    
  


And then because clearly God decided that Kon’s mind hadn’t fulfilled it’s mind fuck quota for _life_ , he heard another whimper. One that sounded too much like his name, albeit muffled. But still his name…   
  


Why he found that hot, he wasn’t sure. But the feeling he was getting from between his legs clearly meant that it didn’t matter. He knew he shouldn’t look, he knew it down to his bones. So why was he pressing his chest against the tree and peering around the corner…   
  


Focusing his every sense on Tim, he observed every splash and moan let out by his best friend. For several long heart beats, he stared at the wet strands of hair sticking to a flushed cheek. And then noticed the uneven spread of that flush going over shaking shoulders and heaving chest.    
  


As his eyes went lower, so did his hand. Without a thought, his palm was rubbing his cock through the underwear, mimicking Tim’s movements until he was fully hard. With Tim’s soft gasps ringing in his ears, Kon jerked himself harder. Every moan made him want to let out a groan of his own. Until he had to bite down on his knuckles to stifle the sounds.   
  


Tim’s voice had become breathy, quiet gasps falling from his lips. Both of his hands were working frantically and when his gasp broke half way, Kon just _knew_ that Tim had come. But the real kicker was the warm, spine tingling way in which Tim whispered his _name_.   
  


A rumble overhead covered the choked off noise pulled from him along with his orgasm. Thick, white fluid dripped down the dark bark, followed by a few more spurts that lazily dripped down to the ground. Kon fell down to his knees, panting as he tried to catch his breath.    
  


The musky smell of his semen made him pull back from the tree.    
  


“Fuck…” he whispered, staring at the drying fluid. “Did I just…”   
  


—   
  


Tim gave the thick clouds another quick, concerned look. It was surprising how quickly the clouds had gathered together in the skies. Just barely an hour ago it didn’t look like they would rain. But now they hung ominously low in the sky - dark and heavy with moisture, ready to drench the earth below them.   
  


“Better hurry up.” He told Kon, who was dropping down one fruit after another as quick as he could. The man looked up at the skies before nodding and increasing his pace. It’s a bit confusing but Kon hadn’t met his eye all morning now. Tim isn’t sure if it’s a blessing in disguise or an indicator to some problem.   
  


_‘He can’t be mad about something can he?’_ Tim wondered briefly, catching a stray papaya before it hit the ground. But he couldn’t think of anything to support that statement…Kon had been quiet from the get go. Since the man had come to wash up in the lake, he had did his best to avoid Tim’s gaze and had kept his responses extremely to the point. _‘He can’t still be mad about what happened yesterday…can he?’_  
  


A sudden drop of wetness on his cheek meant a temporary halt on his musing. “Conner!” His hands quickly tied the black shirt up to protect the food from the incoming rain. Alvin came down before Kon, a cold brush of wind blowing past his face as the bird hovered momentarily in front of him. He held a hand out, ready for Kon to catch him and was taken aback when Kon’s hand didn’t clasp his. But instead wrapped an arm around his waist.   
  


“Faster this way.” Kon told him simply, covering Tim with a thin layer of TTK to protect him from the rain as well. With a curt nod, Tim accepted the explanation and tried to push the slightly dizzy feeling away. He hadn’t expected having such a strong reaction to being so close to Kon. Or it could be the fact that he was almost naked and pressed against Kon’s almost naked body.   
  


_‘Don’t think about that.’_ Tim scolded himself with a shall shake of the head. _‘Don’t think about how warm he is. Focus on the cold. Focus on the sound of the rain.’_ As he repeated his thoughts, Kon had flown them back to their shelter. He sighed in relief to see his cape still firmly attached to the roof and felt even more relieved when they crawled inside.    
  


There wasn’t a drop of water on their beds for the most part. The cape was providing excellent cover from the rain. Unfortunately, it was only covering one half of the hut, just enough space for Kon and him to sit under comfortably. Even that was far too close to comfort for Tim considering the morning…events.    
  


Throughout their quiet lunch, they just sat shoulder to shoulder nibbling on the fruit. Alvin sat in front of them, content to watch them as they ate and chirp from time to time in response to a rumble or two. Any attempts at conversation from Tim’s side were met with silence, monosyllabic answers or grunts.    
  


_‘I feel like crying…’_ he thought unhappily, pulling his knees up with a small shiver. Rain he had managed to protect them from but he hadn’t considered the cold winds that accompanied it. _‘My kingdom for a bowl of hot soup…’_ Shivering again at another slow gust of wind, Tim curled up into a tighter ball in his seat.    
  


He almost jumped out of his skin when he felt a warm arm drop over his shoulder. “Jeez, you’re cold as hell.”   
  


Tim gave Kon a disparaging glance, feeling relieved that Kon was making conversation on his own. “Not all of us are portable heaters.” he replied tartly. But another shiver ruined the effect completely.   
  


But Kon was finally looking at him. With more concern that he’d like but, he’d take the attention with gratitude. Tim grew warm as large fingers lightly rested against his arm and a second hand pressed against his. “You’re too cold.”   
  


Tim barely had time to yelp in surprise when the larger man suddenly pulled him in between his open legs. “ _Conner_! What are you doing?”   
  


“Keeping you alive.” His friend replied, “And warm.” he added quickly, a small flush spreading over his nose. Feeling a tad dumbfounded, Tim was ready to squirm out of Kon’s hold. Except that it was warm sitting like this with his back pressed against Kon’s chest.    
  


Kon’s hands and knees bracketed him, forming a shield around him to protect him from the cold. And then he felt a familiar pressure covering his body. Curiously, he craned his head around to look at Kon, to ask if the TTK could protect them from the cold wind. But forget his voice when he saw how close Kon was to him.   
  


Tim was suddenly very aware of the way Kon’s every breath was softly brushing against his hair. Going right past his ear in an almost caress that made him shiver for a totally different reason. The trembling made Kon’s arms tighten around his shoulders and pull him closer. Enough to press his ass right against Kon’s groin.   
  


—   
  


He had noticed. There was no way that Tim couldn’t have noticed his little ‘problem’. The sharp intake of breath along with the sudden stiffening of Tim’s lithe figure was a dead give-away.    
  


Kon waited for the words. They would come eventually…Tim’s stiff, quiet voice would ask him far too calmly why he was popping a woody while holding him. And then he’d have to tell him that he didn’t _know_ himself actually. Which would lead to Tim being pissed at the non-answer and Kon having to admit that he couldn’t stop himself from thinking about Tim in the lake and then Tim _would_ find _some way_ to kill him on this island.   
  


But instead, there was only the sound of the rain surrounding them. Tim didn’t say anything and he didn’t move. Kon could see the back of Tim’s neck, smooth skin hiding underneath dark hair as their owner stared awkwardly at his own feet. The lack of a cold or angry reaction from Tim was puzzling but that didn’t mean that h wasn’t grateful for the lack of it. So Kon closed his eyes and tried not to think of Tim sitting in his arms.   
  


Which was a _complete_ mistake because he immediately imagined Tim the way he had seen him in the morning. The absorbed, pleasure filled expression, the breathy whines, the pale, hardness between Tim’s legs… _‘Crap crap crap!’_ he whined to himself, squirming behind slightly to put some distance between himself as Tim.   
  


Except that Tim wasn’t having any of it. Kon wanted to cry when Tim suddenly backed up against to be pressed snugly against his erection _again_. And then _wriggled_.   
  


With a groan that blew past Tim’s ear, Kon held Tim in place. “Don’t do that.” He warned the man harshly, every muscle tight with arousal. However, Tim wriggled harder in Kon’s grip, gasping quietly as his head fell back against Kon’s shoulder.   
  


“The hell are you doing?” Kon asked, desperate for more and scared to hear the answer. His heart was beating far too hard and fast inside his chest. In fact, he was damn sure that Tim could feel it pounding against his back.   
  


A pale hand gently dropped over his. “I don’t know.” Tim responded huskily into his neck, an arm dragging Kon’s hand down the inside of his thigh.   



	5. Back Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So much for the status quo

Kon’s release was a sticky mess between his fingers and a short groan buried into his shoulder. Tim stroked the length one last time before letting his hand rest, mimicking the position of Kon’s hand. The meta’s hand was still curled around his erection, half dried come joining them together in a slightly uncomfortable mess.   
  


The sudden kiss pressed into his shoulder made Tim shiver, his body starting to cool down but still warm within Kon’s embrace. He remained in place, mind blessedly quiet as he sat in place and watched the meta pull his shirt towards them. Tim continued to lean back into Kon’s chest as Kon wiped his hand clean before gently pulling Tim’s hand forward.  
  


And as soon as his hand was clean and free, a soft nothingness tucked him back into his underwear and stroked his hip. With a small smile, Tim turned his face to the side to hide his expression underneath Kon’s jaw. Regardless of the heavy rain that continued to fall down around them and the darkness that only seemed to grow darker (which was something that he ought to worry about given that it had only been morning a few hours ago and now it was as dark as night) or the bird that had given them a lazy one eyed glance during the entire…event, Tim felt at peace.  
  


He knew that he ought to think about what had just transpired between them. To sit and consider his (reckless, unnecessary) actions and the (harmful, horrible) consequences that could and would arise as a result. And then make (inadequate, useless) plans to adjust accordingly. To bring things back to the status quo (that he had just shattered into irreparable pieces).   
  


Tim looked out into the dark, hearing nothing but the rain and the ocean waves and didn’t feel soothed by their sound. For a moment, he thought that the weather was starting to reflect his mental state extremely well. Dark and stormy and uncomfortable. Kon’s arms wrapped around him, cocooning him in the smell of rain, sweat and sex and Kon. The meta pressed another kiss to his shoulder before whispering, “Alright?”  
  


It was on the tip of his tongue to inquire what exactly was Kon asking about. If he was alright? In a general sense or specific? Were  _they_  alright? Was their friendship alright? Was their performance alright. Working with specifics might actually make him start to panic. Safer to assume that Kon was referring to his general state instead of mental state of being. Which was rapidly deteriorating the more he ‘didn’t’ think about what they had just done.  
  


Nodding slightly, Tim tried to remember how he had relaxed against Kon’s body but that only made him remember the way Kon’s hands had felt against his cock. The tentativeness in his touch, shy fingers that seemed almost scared of their own strength before they had wrapped around his girth and made him forget everything except them.   
  


Trying to not remember was only making him remember the act more and subsequently made him stiff as a board in Kon’s arms. The meta lightly squeezed his friend before inquiring in a soft voice. “Tim? Seriously, are you okay?”  
  


Opening his mouth, Tim was ready to answer except. “Perfectly.” Yes. That was easier to do. Lying came to him as easily as breathing. Breathing was also a good idea come to think of. He closed his eyes and took in several long, steady breaths and firmly told himself to not think about anything that had happened in the past 20 odd minutes.  
  


Kon seemed satisfied with the answer and with Tim’s body slowly beginning to relax. “Alright…” Tim closed his eyes, sighing softly as he continued to breath deeply. He focused on the smell of the rain and wet sand, with the tinge of ocean wave. Took in a deep breath of it through the nostrils before letting it out in a long breath through the lips.  
  


His head began to feel heavy and fell back against Kon’s shoulder, hands readjusting around his waist as he unwittingly began to fall to sleep.   
  


—  
  


“It’s been more than 60 hours Lenny.”  
  


“They’ll be back soon. Trust me on that.”   
  


“How do you know that?”  
  


“I just.. _.do._ ”  
  


—  
  


Kon hovered between sleep and wakefulness, wondering if it was worth it to wake up right now or to catch some more Z’s. In his half muddled state, he heard someone quietly walking around him. Soft, barely there foot falls that padded around him before a small click cut through his hazy thoughts.  
  


The noise was familiar. Achingly so. Like a door opening. But that wasn’t possible because they were stuck on some God forsaken island in the middle of some alternative dimension that didn’t even believe in huts or indoor plumbing. Deciding that he must have imagined the noise, Kon turned over and was ready to go back to sleep.  
  


But there was another click barely a few seconds later. It made Kon frown lightly in his sleep. He couldn’t have imagined the same noise twice now? Could he have? Cracking an eye open, Kon was surprised to find himself staring at a blank wall instead of rustling leaves that made up the walls of their hut.   
  


For a long confused moment, he stared at the wall and the small strip of sunlight that was peeking through the heavy curtains. A discovery he made by rolling his head back to peer over his head.  _‘I’m in a room…’_ He felt like congratulating himself for the discovery as he slowly sat up.   
  


Crossing his legs, Kon stared at the curtains before it suddenly clicked that he was missing something in this picture.  _‘Tim!’_ He immediately turned to look around the room, searching for his best friend (? they were still best friends right? Although in all honestly he would have to admit that after last night…and just the whole island thing…he wasn’t sure if he could see as Tim as his best friend anymore…maybe something more that’s for certain but…)  
  


Kon shook his head, muttering under his breath. “Relationship crisis later.” He got up to his feet, checking the room out before it clicked again that he was in the Tower. And there was someone sleeping in the bed. In a very interesting position to boot. Walking over to the man sleeping with his face down in the pillow, Kon gave a soft poke to a bare shoulder and wondered how the man was even breathing.  
  


The male jerked slightly, head pulled out of its position as he slurred. “S’ time t’ get up al’eady?” Kon stood in place beside the bed as brown eyes narrowed sleepily at him. “When’d you get back?”  
  


With a small shrug, Kon replied. “I dunno.” His eyes narrowed slightly as he eyed the man. “Were you the guy who sent us to that…”  
  


“Love island dimension place thing.” The man yawned before dropping his head back down into the pillow. “S’ good yer back n’ all but man, I need some more rest.” Kon was ready to ask the man more questions when the door slammed open (making him and the guy jump in surprise).  
  


Bart stood in the doorway, eyes wide and hair askew before he yelled in delight. “You’re-really-back!” Kon was about to ask how the  _hell_ did Bart find that out so quickly when he found himself being given an enthusiastic hug from the speedster as he sing-song’d, “You’re-back! You’re-back!”   
  


With a small laugh, Kon returned the hug before speaking. “Yeah, I’m back.”  
  


Bart pulled away to punch his shoulder hard. “Don’t-ever-do-that-again! You-have-no-idea-how-worried-we-were! We-didn’t-think-you’d-make-it-back! I-mean-how-often-does-it-happen-that-you-get-sucked-into-some-alternate-love-dimension-with-your-best-friend-because-you-get-too-close-to-some-reality-altering-meta?”  
  


Bright eyes peered up at him as the speedster bounced in front of him. “What-was-the-place-like? Was-it-like-a-hotel? Or-like-New-York? I-don’t-care-what-anyone-says-but-New-York-is-kinda-a-romantic-city. Even-though-the-“   
  


Kon waved a hand to get Bart’s attention before asking, “Wait! Wait a minute! How did you find out that we were back?” A pitiful groan from behind him made the couple exchange a look before walking outside with a sheepish look on their faces.  
  


Closing the door behind him, he turned back to Bart. “So? How did you know? And how long were we away?”  
  


“Oh! You-guys-got-zapped-on-Saturday-noon-ish-and-its-Monday-today. Almost-7-in-the-morning.” Bart shrugged and jerked a thumb behind him. “I-was-already-up-and-I-heard-someone-cursing-outside-the-door-and-it-sounded-like-Tim. So-I-opened-the-door-and-presto,-there-was-Tim. Kinda-like-a-jack-in-the-box-but-without-the-whole-jumping-out-bit.”  
  


His eyes darted away from Bart to look down the long corridor of doors that led to their rooms. Kon stared at the closed door, wondering if he ought to go talk to Tim right now. It was very likely that the person he had heard walking around the room was Tim. Which basically meant that Tim had sneaked out after they had had sex. Without a word.  
  


That hurt more than he thought it would. “You-okay?” Bart’s concerned question made him turn his attention back to his friend. Kon gave the closed door another look before shrugging heavily, unable to speak.  
  


—  
  


Tim stared at the shirt he held in his hand, wondering when he had picked it up. Last he remembered, Kon had used it to wipe both their hands clean. His fingers held the shirt up in front of him, eyes moving past the few splotches of drying sand before locking onto the drying stains near the bottom edge.   
  


His fingers twitched. Just like they had when Kon’s hand had clumsily wrapped around his cock through the underwear. With a lump growing in his throat, Tim scrunched the shirt up. Balling it up, he walked into the adjoining bathroom before yanking off the top of his laundry basket.  
  


Staring down at the dark weave, Tim’s hand refused to cooperate in tossing the shirt into the basket. It remained frozen, balled up shirt hanging mid-air as he wondered why the hell couldn’t he just throw the shirt away. Before he could control himself, he had tossed the top back on and walked over to his bag.   
  


He tossed the shirt into it, thinking that it would be better for him to wash it in his own apartment where no one else could see it. If no one knew about what had happened on the island and they never mentioned it again, he could pretend that it had never happened right? Then their lives could go back to normal, to the status quo, to the way things were.  
  


Fingers tightened around a bag strap as a sharp pang made its way through his chest. Closing his eyes, Tim inhaled deeply and tried to breathe past the pain. He was going to put the past 3 days and nights away. In some place inside his head that rarely, if ever, visited and just forget that it ever happened.  
  


Out of sight. Out of mind.  
  


—  
  


He would be liar if he said that he didn’t like it that Tim had been avoiding him. Mostly because he was guilty of the same thing. But, he wasn’t sure if it was something he was doing at a conscious level or if his ‘flight’ response was kicking in when he was paying attention.   
  


But he was pretty damn sure that fear played a healthy part in his stance towards Tim. Because it was fear which made him jump every time his phone would ring ( _‘Don’t be Tim. Don’t be Tim. Please don’t be Tim.’_ ). Fear that made his heart pound inside his chest every time a new IM would pop up or when Friday rolled around.   
  


And it was because of that fear that Kon kept delaying the conversation that he knew was inevitable. He knew that sooner or later, they would have to talk about it. It was a logical assumption to make however, fear made him whisper ‘Tomorrow. We can do it tomorrow’. And feeling like a little child who had lost his way, he would listen to that voice. Tuesday turned into Wednesday, Wednesday to Thursday and then, eventually Friday. That was when he had cooked up some half baked excuse to skip going to the Tower.  
  


It was easy to see that Cassie wasn’t amused by his excuse that he hadn’t been feeling well but she gave him the benefit of the doubt. Thinking that she was far better to him than he deserved, Kon turned on his back and stared up at the skies. Krypto was sniffing at a nearby cloud before he flew by next to his hand.  
  


Kon raised a distracted hand up to scratch the mutt’s head. He knew that he couldn’t use the same excuse he had used last Friday because there was  _no_ way that Cassie would believe that he still wasn’t feeling well. At the same time he couldn’t  _believe_ that he had managed to avoid Tim for two weeks.  
  


Ten  _excruciating_ days where he had to endure complete radio silence from his  _best friend_. His best friend who he  _wanted_ to get out of his head but his damn  _brain_ wouldn’t stop reminding him of the guy. Tiny moments that he had never considered of any consequence were brought up out of his memory. And from the strangest triggers.  
  


A teacup with a blue flowers delicately painted on the outside reminded him of Tim’s eyes. The flicker of black shadow and pale moonlight against his ceiling reminded him of Tim’s hair. The red of a cherry red truck parked outside the school was a reminder of the man’s night job. A thin tie reminded him of Tim Drake-Wayne.  
  


And that was out here in Kansas. He didn’t even want to think about what it would be like back in Frisco where there were  _actual_ reminders linked to Tim. Tim was everywhere in a way that he had never noticed before.  
  


Which made him feel a little bit more guilty every day where he listened to the voice to let it off for another day. The guilt would be assuaged by anger temporarily whenever he would check his voice mail or email. He wouldn’t admit it out loud but he hoped every day that Tim would leave a message or something which would break the ice between them.  
  


But nothing came his way.  
  


Kon felt more stranded in the middle of Kansas than he ever did on that stupid island.  
  


—  
  


With both hands covering his face, Tim was sure that he looked the very definition of the term exhausted. His head was aching, pounding as though there was someone inside his skull banging a sludgehammer against his brain. Every bone in his body felt tired and heavy. He basically felt lifeless and limp as he sat before the computer.  
  


Sighing, he dropped his hands down and leaned back in his seat. Seventeen days. Seventeen whole days where he hadn’t contacted Kon in  _any_ way, shape or form. Nothing but radio silence in all those days. Seventeen days of hoping against hope that the distance would help him clear his mind and quash his developing feelings before they  _actually_ developed.  
  


Which was why it was a severe blow to find out that his getting rid of those feelings was neigh impossible. His fingers itched to message Kon with some inane little thing. Even on the computer there were a couple of times he had found himself opening up a new email to send to Kon before he had stopped himself. But those were things that happened while he was awake.  
  


During his sleeping hours? It was much worse.  
  


He had revisited the island every night since they had come back. Every night. Tim would inadvertently dream of the way he had taken Kon’s hand into his own and wordlessly asked him to touch him. And every morning he had woken up with either a morning erection or wet briefs. Along with bits and pieces of the event which he had failed to notice at the time.   
  


Like the way Kon’s breath had hitched when he had kissed the underside of his jaw. Or the roughness of Kon’s palm and thumb, stroking him so slowly. The ache in his arm as he had thrown an arm back in a bid to hold more of Kon. That tiny drop of sweat that had trickled its way down his pec.   
  


Slapping the flat of his palms against the chair, Tim stood up with a quick jerk. He had to stop thinking about what had happened. Needed to just stop thinking about Kon and his smile and the way his eyes had this faint glow to them in the dark and just…he needed to stop. It was imperative that he pull himself together so that he could focus on his work and get a good night’s rest.  
  


But no matter how many times he had repeated that mantra inside his head, it never came true. Clearly there wasn’t much merit in the idiom ‘if you tell yourself a lie long enough, it’ll come true’. Maybe it was too big of a lie to ignore what had happened. Maybe it didn’t work when it came to feelings.  
  


Or maybe he needed to get that stupid semen stained shirt out of his bag and wash it instead of keeping it wrapped up in a plastic bag.  
  


Maybe.  
  


Who knew.  
  


He sure as hell didn’t.  
  


Same way he didn’t know if he ought to leave for San Francisco in another two hours because Cassie had insisted that she needed his input on something. And she had accepted no answer except one which involved him showing up at the Tower for the weekend.  
  


Staring at the ceiling, he knew that not going would only make Cassie mad at him and that meant it was completely out of the question. Which meant that the only question was…how soon before he ran into Kon? And what would he do then?


End file.
